Final Diagnostic and Instructional Recommendations Report
1. General Information
Tutor: Audrey Jepsen
Student: Kenzie Keith
School: Spring Creek Elementary
Grade: Third
Classroom Teacher: Mrs. Sharon Emero
Chronological age: 8-10
Test dates: 7/31/08, 8/5/08, 8/7/08, 8/11/08, 8/12/08
2. Physical Factors
Auditory Acuity
According to Kenzie’s mother, she has no auditory problems. She has passed the regular screening
given at Spring Creek Elementary School. Kenzie has also had regular well-child visits to their
pediatrician and there have been no indications for concern.
In our sessions together, no auditory problems were observed.
Findings: From all known factors, Kenzie’s auditory acuity and discrimination appears to be within
the normal range.
Conclusions: Hearing is not adversely affecting Kenzie’s reading progress.
Visual Acuity
According to Kenzie’s mother, Kenzie was referred to a specialist for failure to pass a kindergarten
vision screening test performed by the nurse at Spring Creek Elementary School. However, her
mother did not agree and had never witnessed any visual difficulties. She decided to wait and see if
any problems did arise before seeing an optometrist. Consequently, Kenzie passed both her 1 st and
2nd grade vision screening tests, does not complain of any eye irritation, blurring, tiring, or difficulties
and displayed no visual deficiencies, such as squinting, during our meetings.
Findings: From all known factors, Kenzie’s visual acuity appears to be within the normal range.
Conclusions: Visual acuity is not adversely affecting Kenzie’s progress in reading.
3. Data Collected: Tests and clinical information
a. Pre-test Results
1) “El Paso Phonics Survey” (Miller, 2001), administered August 5, 2008, by Audrey Jepsen (no.
correct/ no. possible)
Part 1: Initial/Ending Consonants
Part 2: Initial Consonant Clusters (Blends)
Part 3: Vowels, Vowel Teams, Special Letter Combinations
23/23
27/35
27/32
2) “San Diego Quick Assessment List” (Miller, 2001), administered August 5, 2008, by Audrey
Jepsen (no. correct/ no. possible)
Part 1: Initial/Ending Consonants
Part 2: Initial Consonant Clusters (Blends)
Part 3: Vowels, Vowel Teams, Special Letter Combinations
23/23
27/35
27/32
3) “Instant Word List” (Miller, 2001), administered August 7, 2008, by Audrey Jepsen (no.
correct/ no. possible)
Part 1: Initial/Ending Consonants
Part 2: Initial Consonant Clusters (Blends)
Part 3: Vowels, Vowel Teams, Special Letter Combinations
23/23
27/35
27/32
4) Individual Reading Inventory, (Miller, 2001), administered August 7, 2008, by Audrey Jepsen
Grade
Level
Word Recog.
in isolation *
Words in
Context
Oral
Comp.
1
2
3
4
25
24
22
20
Ind.
Ind.
Inst.
Frust.
Ind.
Inst.
Inst.
Frust.
Ind.
Ind.
Inst.
Frust.
Estimate of Reading Levels: Ind. 2nd Grade Inst. 3rd Grade Frust. 4th Grade
_________________________________________________________________
* indicates # words correct
b. Results of observations and interviews
The first part of the session with Kenzie on August 5th was mostly spent getting acquainted.
Kenzie came to my home and enjoyed playing with my 12 month old little girl. I was able to see a
very sweet and nurturing side of her personality. She was a little shy, but very willing to be helpful
or participate in our reading activities. She was energetic and laughed freely, although she did not
speak a lot unless she was asked a question or needed help. She seemed somewhat
apprehensive about the reading tests and was quick to point out her perceived weaknesses.
Kenzie said that the was really excited to be back in school and it was clear that she enjoys being
with her teachers and friends. Her mother indicated that school has been a very positive
experience for Kenzie, however she does seem to doubt her abilities. She enjoys playing soccer,
dirt biking with her dad, and camping, but her favorite activities are singing and dancing. She
loves “High School Musical” and Hannah Montana.
The first activity Kenzie did was a reading survey. I decided to do a little test while she took the
survey and I let her pick a movie she really enjoyed to watch while she did it. I was hoping judge
her ability to focus and deal with noise and distractions. I was very impressed to see her ignore
the movie and answer the survey questions with real focus even while the movie was on. Later I
had her take some tests in a quiet room and she seemed a little uncomfortable, which led me to
believe that she enjoys background noise.
While taking the tests, Kenzie tired easily and her automaticity was low. She would begin the first
list of words or sentence of reading with a strong voice, great speed and clear recognition of
words, but at about the third sentence her reading would slow dramatically and she would pause
sometimes one to three seconds between each word, even short sight words such as: the, so, in,
etc. Her voice would turn monotone and their was practically no expression. Kenzie’s word
understanding and decoding strategies were good, but she struggled with recognition and had to
work at sounding out each word. She was successful with her skills, but this extra work caused
her performance to be slower and made reading more of a chore. However, despite her low
fluency, her ability to respond to questions was high and she seemed to have better
comprehension than I would have expected. She was thoughtful and detailed in her responses.
4. Analysis of data
a. Tests
Performance on the “El Paso Phonic Survey” indicated slight difficulties with three-letter blends,
vowel teams, and special letter combination. She correctly identified the initial and ending
consonants, as well as the two-letter blends, digraphs sh and ch, and the short vowel sound
combinations.
Performance on the “San Diego Assessment List” put Kenzie in the normal range for a third grade
student. She achieved 100% on the first and second grade word lists, 90% on the third grade
level, and only 70% for the fourth grade.
Kenzie was able to correctly read 298 of the 300 words contained in the “Instant Words” list. I
timed her reading of the words and it took just under 6 minutes to read the list, which is an
approximate average of 50 wpm. Once again, she has the skills to read, but her fluency is
preventing her from excelling.
The “Individual Reading Inventory” results show Kenzie to be at a second grade independent
reading level, a third grade instructional level, and a fourth grade frustration level. Kenzie was
more fluent with her reading in context than with words in isolation. She scored an approximate
50 wpm in isolation and an approximate 78 wpm in context. Her performance on the
comprehension questions was high and she was very articulate in responding with correct
information and supporting details. Her text-to-self connections were a little weaker, as she was
unable to give thoughtful responses to questions that required her opinion or experience.
Based on Kenzie’s writing sample and instructional activities, I have discovered that she struggles
with spelling and does not apply the same decoding skills when she writes. Based on a
“synonym” activity and worksheet, her vocabulary understanding appears to be at a third grade
level, as does her ability to use context clues and make inferences from the text.
b. Observations and interviews
Kenzie is delightful and thoughtful. She enjoys learning and has a desire to excel. Although
Kenzie recognizes that her reading is choppy and sometimes labored, she remains confident in
her ability and enjoys reading. Kenzie appears to desire praise and feedback to feel successful in
her activities. She is willing to try anything and does not complain or give up when it feels boring,
long, or hard. Kenzie’s greatest reading difficulty at this point is her automaticity and fluency.
However, her writing struggles are more significant and center on spelling and four of the 6 traits:
conventions, fluency, word choice, and organization. Without improvement in her fluency and
writing skills, it will be difficult for Kenzie to move to a higher independent and instructional
reading level.
5. Instructional Plan
a. Goals:
1) Given the instant word list, Kenzie will say each word instantly.
2) Given such common phonograms as “it,” “all,” “and,” “at,” “an,” and “in,” with various
beginning consonant sounds, Sam will identify those words in context. For example, “The
boy hit the ball across the street.”
3) Kenzie will improve her fluency speed to 110 wpm
4) Given a writing task, Kenzie will be able to use the 6 writing traits to construct an 8-10
sentence paper.
5) Kenzie will memorize and understand 3-5 new vocabulary words and at least 10 new spelling
words each week.
6) Kenzie will PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, by reading 20 minutes at her independent
reading level each day.
6. Strengths
a. Kenzie is enthusiastic, intelligent, and fluent in the use of the English language.
b. She has a great ability to focus and stay on task.
c. Kenzie has good comprehension skills at the independent level.
d. She has a variety of interests, both physical and intellectual.
e. She has a positive self-image.
f. Her parents and teacher are supportive.
7. Weaknesses
a. Kenzie is easily tired, especially in the area of reading.
b. She relies on word attack skills, rather than knowledge, experience, or memorization.
c. Kenzie wants to be successful, so she is overly cautious and slow.
d. Kenzie continues to read word-by-word and at the instructional level may miss the meaning of
sentences.
8. Recommendations
a. For School
1) Re-schedule vision screening (precautionary/ yearly exam)
2) Kenzie is just preparing to enter the third grade, she is reading independently at the second
grade level, but is instructional at the third. She appears to improve through repetition and
therefore needs to continue to build her vocabulary and sight word recognition abilities, while
practicing fun and easy books at her independent level daily. Kenzie will use her decoding
skills, but if she does not figure the word out within three-four sentences, she will just sound it
out using phonetic skills and move on, regardless of her understanding or recognition of the
word. She should be encouraged to ask questions, use “thinking” skills, and keep a journal of
her reading with both thick and thin questions, as well as insights.
3) Kenzie should practice speed tests for greater fluency. She needs to practice reading rapidly
to improve her automaticity. When she reads for comprehension, she slows way down. She
should practice reading faster and then combine that with reading for comprehension.
4) Provide time each day for Kenzie to read independently. For group or class reading, give
Kenzie shorter passages of text to help build her confidence and keep the pace. Also,
consider giving her the text in advance so she can practice reading it.
5) Make a goal chart for reading fluency speed and have a reward incentive program in place.
6) Have Kenzie practice writing and then perform editing tasks, so she can recognize spelling or
other errors and improve. After she has finished 2-3 drafts, have her write a final copy and
submit the drafts and final for teacher review.
b. For Home
1) Read books together, and discuss the significant details of the story.
2) Encourage Kenzie to re-read sentences after she has identified each of the words, to improve
speed, expression, and comprehension.
3) Create a list of appropriate independent level books and encourage Kenzie to select books
from that list, to avoid frustration and to improve fluency.
4) Review and practice sight and vocabulary words at home.